is this art?

during discussion in class this evening, the question popped into my head, specifically when peter brought up cory arcangel and his work with gradients in photoshop (here are some examples). essentially, these pieces were done with a few clicks of a mouse.

while looking at these pieces, i couldn't help but draw some comparisons between this and some minimalist/abstract pieces i've seen (malevich, stella, rothko, etc). i know the medium is completely different, but just looking at the final product, it seems that some of the same questions might be raised.

in speaking of similarities, i find that the artists composing these pieces more often than not are making some kind of statement. in doing so, it seems they were not so concerned with whether or not their work could be called art, but rather that their work conveys a message. regardless of the answer, their work is hanging in a museum somewhere and raising discussions such as this. i'd say that counts as something.